Gone But Not Forgotten. Luke’s S2000

It is always heart breaking to see a build come to its ultimate demise. Too many times do we see project cars being sold off, just weeks or months after its completion. The countless hours of labour and money spent all seem to fade away, leaving only a memory of what once was. Some of you may remember Luke Xie’s S2000 from our previous feature of the Stance Slutz crew. When he shared with us his plans of selling up, we knew we had to get in quick to commemorate one of Sydney’s finest S2000’s.

So what makes the perfect show car? There are many variations and opinions on what makes a build, excel above the competition. Luke’s S2000 combines the styles of ‘Sex Spec’, JDM and USDM fitment to achieve what some would arguably say, one of the nicest S2000’s to come out of Sydney. When Luke first purchased his S2000, it was slammed on 20″ wheels and featured a diamond stitched cream leather interior. For many buyers, these modifications would have been warnings to steer clear of the car. However, Luke saw past the questionable exterior and saw potential from within, he was infatuated by the canvas which now lay upon him. “The car came with some work done to it already such as the respray and retrim, but I felt as if it was lacking some flair, it needed some of my personality and flavour.”

Luke’s S2000 was built as the perfect cruiser, minus the impracticality of the ride height haha! You can really picture yourself rolling down Sunset Boulevard with the top down, sitting next to a fine young lady! For Luke to keep his car this clean while rolling around static was a true feat. This is how Luke described his favourite past time with the S2000 ” When the roof is down on a sky blue day there is nothing better than being in the cock pit and hearing the screaming F20C hit 9000 RPM”

Luke focused his attention to the exterior of the car where many of his modifications shine. He tried to keep the body as clean as possible with the appropriate aero upgrades in order to beef up the cars already aggressive stance. My favourite part of the car would definitely be the rear, with the Voltex Carbon Fibre diffuser and JDP Engineering boot spoiler they set each other off very nicely. Two aggressive elements to give that rear end a unique look. Truly a work of art.

Sadly, the Voltex Diffuser was one of the finishing touches to the car. Luke had to wait almost 5 months to receive it, coming in just a few days after The-Lowdown’s Showcased.. and by then he had already made the choice to move on.

The sides were fitted with custom FD RX7 side diffusers, which amazingly mate up to the S2000 perfectly. Here you can also see the sexy burnt titanium tips of the Nvidia Exhaust which help to amplify the symphony of the F20C VTEC. “The first time I ever indulged in that glorious VTEC crossover quite literally brought a smile to my face, something which I thought car reviewers on TV just did for dramatic effect.. There a very few things in life which can do this..”

Continuing along the lines of the USDM theme, Luke acquired an ASM style front bumper and lip. The ASM bumper and lip transforms the look of the car drastically. He chose to paint it with a Custom Pearl White gradient overlay on top of the Carbon Fibre Lip, which gives it a really stunning finish. Attention to detail is one of Luke’s strong points. His mates at 2SUS Customs took care of all the paint work in and around the car.

Luke has fine tuned the Stance of the car perfectly. “Each new set of wheels got more aggressive and the car got lower with more negative camber but of course this meant a whole new set of problems each time too.” Watching this rolling on the highway was such a delight and we cringe every time it scrapes. To achieve this ground scraping-ly low ride height, BC Racing Type BR coilovers were installed. The other supporting Suspension modifications include SPC adjustable ball joints and Godspeed Adjustable Control arms.

And now onto the rolling stock. No Stance car is completed until the perfect set of rim’s are chosen. The back bone of the car are these gorgeous SSR SP1 Professors. Luke previously had a pair of full polished SP1’s, but in the pursuit of perfection, sold them in order to complete the full silver set. With the car already having Cream interior and Pearl White paint, the Silver SSR’s were a nice subtle touch to the car. Any outrageous colour would have thrown the entire car off balance in Luke’s opinion. To finish it off, Project Kics’ Neochrome lugnuts work perfectly against polished lip of the aggressively sized SSR’s (complete with centre caps too)

The rears were rolled and pumped to fit his SSR SP1 Professors measuring in at 18 x 10.5 +30.

His fronts were also rolled and flared to fit these monstrous wheels, 18 x 9 +37. As the saying goes, if the wheels don’t fit you make them fit.

The S2000 has such sleek lines, I don’t they can ever go out of fashion. It is truly a timeless design in which Luke has improved on and accentuated the cars natural curves. We applaud ASM!

The Engine Bay was the final thing to tick off on Luke’s To-Do list. With the exterior and interior of the car up to his standards, it was time to spend some TLC on the bay to bring it up to scratch with the rest of the car. The incredibly rare ARC Intake Box was repolished, as well as a new Aluminium radiator to keep the engine cool. A new rocker cover was sourced and sprayed in the same Magnificent Pearl White as the body. Luke opted to finish it off with a Carbon Fibre theme and ordered a Carbon Fibre Cooling plate with Intake snorkel and a Carbon Fibre Spark plug cover. The original yellow paint from the chassis was hit with a strong degreaser to allow it to shine flawlessly against the sun once again.

Unfortunately Luke’s S2000 is no longer with us anymore as he has sold it for bigger and better things. But it will always be remembered as Luke’s Sexy & Stanced S2000. Gone but not forgotten. And here’s one last quote from Luke which resonated with us. “I wanted the final build to have something for everyone, I wanted even the average Joe to appreciate the look of the car.”

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Howdy guys, your Ed here. I’m currently studying a bachelor of Industrial Design, but have a love for all things design. The automotive industry is my life blood and I’d love for you all to join along for the ride!

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LUKES MID-NIGHT PURPLE III EVO | STREET COVERMay 22, 2017 at 9:04 am

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